Thursday, December 8, 2011

Listening to the that Still Small Voice

In the hustle and bustle of my daily life, it is often hard to hear the still small voice of God whispering to me. However, I can't tell you the number of times in the past few weeks that listening has made my life  so much easier.  You can go ahead and call me weird, but I'm beginning to see that God's provision for me often comes in getting me prepared ahead of the disaster. 

Guess you could say that God knows that I'm a list maker and a planner by nature so when things crop up that are not on my "to do list," they can throw me off.  While I'd prefer that God go ahead and just let me in the details, He has been doing a great job of preparing the way ahead of me. 

For instance....

A few weeks ago, I decided to strip all the beds in the house, to wash all the towels and to even clean out Mr C's closet, drawers and prep the room for company.  I went so far as to move the trundle bed into his room.  It was an all day cleaning job.  The time went quickly and I was so impressed with how everything was clean. I vacuumed every bedroom, cleaned the bathrooms and by the end of the day my house was sparkling.

I had a supply closet full of cleaning supplies because a few days prior I had a nudge at Target to get my winter cleaning stuff all ready.  I picked up the disinfectants, paper towels, Lysol, laundry detergent, and of course soda crackers and sprite too. 

Wouldn't you know it that very afternoon and my house was cleaned from top to bottom, my youngest child came home "sick" and while there was still lots to do to care for her, my house was so clean. 

Days later when Miss A was still suffering and had now gotten the stomach bug, we had a long night together watching a Hallmark movie between trips to the bathroom and Miss A said this has not "been my week."  While I agreed, I said how blessed we were that God had gotten us all ready. My calendar was somehow empty and we had fun things in the craft closet to do.

Little did I know that in a few hours, our heater would go out on a Sunday morning, and the only reason I would be able to call and get a repairman to come was that I was home with a sick child.  By God's provision, I had the heater checked just weeks prior and when I called the emergency number that morning, they said they would have someone out within the hour.

The result was it was a fluke, nothing wrong. No charge.  All because I had the Furnace Check weeks ago.

Finally, on Monday, I "felt" the need to get caught up on the cleaning once again. By Tuesday morning, I had washed sheets, towels and all the clothes in our house.  Hours of washing and folding and putting away. Wednesday morning I went to "fluff" a few items in the dryer and guess what it would not work.  Nada.  Nothing.

I called our appliance repair man and by God's provision the phone call ahead of me was a cancellation and they could come out that afternoon.  I told my husband that after weeks of marathon washing due to illness and guests, the dryer waited until I was all caught up to go out.  Amazing. Now, with a new pulley system in the dryer, we should back on track today. 

Listening to the still small voice has really saved me a lot of headache in the last few weeks. I just need to remember to be "still" myself long enough to hear Him whisper, nudge, and encourage me to act; and then do it!

Psalm 46:10
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

1 comment:

patti@blessedfamily said...

Thanks for sharing and thanks for the reminder :)